House Energy and Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) says President Obama is out of excuses for not supporting the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and predicts supporters of the project may find enough votes to override the expected Obama veto.
On Friday, the House of Representatives voted 266-153 to authorize the pipeline. The Senate is expected to follow suit in the coming days. Friday’s vote came the same day the Nebraska Supreme Court threw out what may be the final legal hurdle to the pipeline. The State Department green-lighted Keystone in 2012 after years of review.
“The president is out of excuses,” said Blackburn. “It’s time for him to sign this. It has wide, wide bipartisan support in the House.”
Blackburn believes the real reason for Obama’s intransigence is his fidelity to the environmental lobby.
“I think it has to do with his friends who are active in the environmental community. They’ve invested heavily in alternative energy sources, primarily wind and solar. But that doesn’t work in every state in the country. Wind and solar [are] not predictable. They are a very small part of our nation’s energy supply,” said Blackburn.
The Senate is expected to approve Keystone soon. If Obama makes good on his veto threat, Blackburn thinks the president may surprised by what Congress does next.
“I think what you would see is we have the ability to override a veto if he moves forward with the veto. We’re all looking forward to the Senate vote,” she said.
An override would be a tall order in either chamber, since two-thirds of the House and Senate would need to back Keystone to force it past the president. Vote counters in the Senate believe GOP leaders can find the six Democrats needed to pass the original bill, but lining up 13 Democrats to reject an Obama veto may be hard to find. In the House, 290 votes are needed to override a veto if all members are present.
Blackburn says the benefits of Keystone should be obvious, particularly when it comes to energy independence and job growth.
“It does increase the nation’s oil supply and it does move us further along the path to energy independence. That’s the goal that we all share and are working toward. Another thing it does is the jobs. Twenty thousand jobs will be created by the pipeline,” said Blackburn, who says Keystone would also provide business owners with some desperately needed certainty.
“If you reduce the cost of doing business because you are aiding our nation’s energy security policy, which gives businesses that deal in logistics or transportation or packaging with plastics and polymers which come from crude oil, you give them a more solid and predictable foundation that they can do their pricing on,” said Blackburn.
Despite the apparent end to the legal battle over Keystone and his own State Department approving the project, Obama remains firmly opposed. While Blackburn attributes this to the influence of environmental lobbyists, Obama argues the pipeline will move Canadian oil to the U.S. gulf coast for refining and much of the final product will be exported to other countries.
Blackburn says there are still major economic incentives to approve the plan.
“Yes, it is Canadian oil but it’s coming into our ports to be refined. What it will help do is to get down the costs of oil and also (help) the ready supply for our businesses,” said Blackburn.
Blackburn says more energy gives another powerful geopolitical tool to help beleaguered allies.
“A great example of that is what’s happened in Europe and how they have had to depend on Russia. Look what Russia has done to them. We would like for our allies to be able to do business with that. It’s short-sighted not to want that,” she said.
The number two Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee is also dismissing rumblings on Capitol Hill and beyond that a hike in federal gasoline taxes may be needed to replenish the Highway Trust Fund in order to address infrastructure needs around the nation. She says that dog won’t hunt with her.
“I am completely opposed to raising the gas tax. It’s the wrong step. What you need to do is clean up what the transportation trust fund is used for. Right now, it’s going to paths in parks and bike paths and museums, you name it. There’s about 30 percent of that fund that has other uses,” said Blackburn. “I think it’s time for us to just clean that up.”